enet, Ireland’s largest open-access network operator and Digiweb, provider of broadband and telephone services to residential users and small businesses, has announced the signing of an agreement between the two companies. As a result, Digiweb now has access to an additional 27,000 fibre enabled premises in six regional towns – Tralee, Portlaoise, Newbridge, Naas, Castlebar and Carlow Town.

This deal follows on from a previous partnership arrangement between enet and SIRO, granting enet access to SIRO’s 100% fibre to the home infrastructure and will drive further competition in the broadband market by giving Digiweb access to extra locations connecting to Gigabit technology.Digiweb’s “Electric Broadband” services will go live in the six towns in 2017, with their launch of a number of fibre optic broadband packages for both residential and business customers. Broadband speeds will range from 150 Megabits per second (Mbps) to one Gigabit per second (Gbps) and will be priced from as little as €45 per month.In total, Digiweb now has access to over 65,000 fibre enabled premises in twelve locations, also including Limerick, Drogheda, Dundalk, Letterkenny, Carrigaline and Dublin West; with further locations anticipated to come on-stream in 2018.Commenting on the announcement, Declan Campbell, Managing Director of Digiweb, said: “Digiweb are pleased to have done this deal with enet and have access to additional SIRO infrastructure because I know our customers will have a better broadband experience. The introduction of our services, via this genuine fibre to the home network, will differentiate us from most of the competition immediately. Digiweb provide 100% nationwide broadband coverage and are committed to bringing real fibre broadband to homes and businesses throughout Ireland. Through this initiative, we will be able to offer our customers Gigabit broadband packages – the most powerful available.”Conal Henry, enet CEO, added: “We’re delighted to have penned this deal with Digiweb as it’s great news for businesses and residential users in Tralee, Portlaoise, Newbridge, Naas, Castlebar and Carlow Town.This deal means that consumers now have access to more choice, better reliability and faster broadband speeds. It also demonstrates enet’s drive and ambition to stimulate the take-up of next generation broadband services in regional Ireland.”Sean Atkinson, SIRO CEO, said: “Our partnership with enet and their deal with Digiweb illustrates how we’re driving competition in Ireland’s broadband marketplace. As SIRO are rolling out a 100% fibre-optic network, we are not constrained by outdated copper technology, which means we can deliver the best broadband experience in Ireland. Together with enet, Digiweb and our other partners, we are reversing the digital divide in Ireland and future-proofing the country’s broadband needs for decades ahead.”Underpinning this deal, enet has made a multi-million-euro investment in the development of an automated software platform that aggregates enet’s own network as well as third party infrastructure. The new platform combines qualification, provisioning, billing, ticketing and lifecycle management across both wholesale and retail services and supports large, small and specialist retail service providers in the provision of superfast broadband to end users.